The Eagle Grove Board of Education met this past Monday and approved extension of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) for staff members. According to Superintendent Jess Toliver, this provides up to 10 days paid leave. It expired last December 31, but schools are now allowed to extend it to March 31. It has to be decided by each school district in the state whether they wish to participate or not.
“The 10 days do not reset, so if they’re already used their gone,” said Toliver. “There are also no tax credits available. My recommendation is to extend it”.
Also approved was an early retirement plan for administrators, something that Toliver has been wanting to add as a third plan to go with the already existing retirement packages. “We current offer plans for classified and certified staff, so I have researched this and have determined I would like the plan to offer three years insurance for qualified staff,” said Toliver. “This group includes the superintendent, principals, business manager and technology director. I realize the cost of this package is greater than the certified package, but the savings is also greater and the incentive equivalent to the salary and benefits packages given to these employees.”
The directors approved the appointment of Ahlers & Cooney of Des Moines as the new school attorney. “They have done some work for us on real estate transactions in the past, and are legal counsel for a lot of area schools,” said Toliver. “You do not hire a specific attorney, but rather an education team.”
In other action the Board:
-approved the resignation of Deb Dencklau as school/court liaison and a contract for Jessica Fuller as Title I/Migrant teacher for the second semester;
-approved an open enrollment request for four students in from Humboldt; -approved early retirement applications from Joe Chamberlin, Marla Hill, Dave Morgan and Maurene Spellmeyer. The four represent a total of 144 years of combined service to the district; -approved the Eagle Grove Eagle as the official newspaper for the district.
